Interwoven
by wordsofjade
Summary: Robert, Rayanne, Myla, and Blythe - four people, four lives completely connected, four final stories to tell on the last night of the Titanic.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Ok, this is going to be kind of a series of oneshots, each the perspective of one of four characters, who are all connected to eacother in some way or another throughout the story...I hope it works! Oh, and I made up an officer, so there's no confusion. lol I don't expect it to be too long, but if you insist, I might just have to make it a full blown novel! ;) Hope you do!!**

"…Titanic will founder."

Those words pierce into me like so many knives. The Titanic, the ship of dreams, the unsinkable ship, is sinking. Sinking. And we're going down with her.

I look to the Captain, searching for an answer in his face. I find nothing. Then, slowly, he turns and walks out of his quarters, only a few men following behind. The rest of us are motionless. Shock seems to grip us all by the necks and our bodies seem useless to control the building reality.

"Well, then, let's get a move on! Ready the lifeboats!" Officer Murdoch shouts to us firmly, yet he looks as if he might wretch.

Officers dash around me, their eyes locked on their route, their minds planning their next attempt to save a life, their legs taking them where they need to be.

But my feet won't move, and my heart is plummeting into my stomach. _You're trained for this, Robert, _I fumble inside of my head. _Just do your job, and it'll be alright. We'll be alright._

"Officer Carrell, what are you doing?" Mr. Thomas Andrews is staring at me hard, his eyes adamant. "Get to your post, man, we haven't much time!"

And so I go. But I nearly trip on my shoe and ram myself up against the doorframe. I kick the wall and head out into the crowded corridor.

Men are whizzing past me, their footsteps hard, their faces solemn. Behind those faces do they feel the fear that's strangling my insides? _Fool. Get yourself together!_

I reach my post outside on the frigid deck next to an empty, covered, lifeboat, tied down to the floor. Swarms of men in navy blue suits and caps jump in to start untying the boats lined up along the side. Metal levers are cranking and ropes are slipping and men are pumping and shouting and my head is spinning. Officer Lowe steps up beside me and puts a hand on my shoulder.

"Don't worry there lad, you know what you're doing. You'll get it done." His smile is weak, and I think I feel his hand shaking - or is that the ship? He's been a good friend to have on this floating dream, with about as much experience as me, if not more, in sailing. And he never lies.

I stand up straight, my shoulders back, and as he walks away, I begin my job.

"Undo those lines to the right, men!" I bellow with a voice I didn't know I had. "Keep tight there, now! Steady does it, steady now." I'm waving my arms this way and that, the sleeves on my heavy jacket crumpling in my ears. A man slips on a piece of ice to my left and a grab hold of his shirt. He grunts a thank you and quickly continues his business. I feel the command of an officer replace my timid, panicked, self. I know what I'm doing, and I'll sure as anything get it done.

But suddenly, an overpowering darkness clouds my mind as I see two people inside my head. A woman, not much older than me, her hair in a tight, chestnut bun, her eyes screaming out to me. And next to her, a girl, not yet nine, with the same brown hair intertwined on both sides of her in braids, her hand grasping for her mother and her face searching mine.

_How could I have forgotten?!_ With a jolt I abandon my post and dart down the deck.

"Robert, where are you going?!" Lowe shouts after me.

"I'll be back! Cover for me!"

**A/N: Ok, this chappie was short, but I'm just gettin' started. Bear with me if I don't update right away, I'm crazy busy!Leave a little comment for me plz!! XD**


	2. Chapter 2

"Rayanne, step away from the window, dear, and get back in bed." My mother's voice is groggy coming from the bedroom. I don't want to step away from the window. I know I felt something. I'm searching now. For what, I'm unsure, but there must be a reason for the shake. I swallow hard.

Suddenly, there's a loud pounding on our second class stateroom's door. My mother comes out from the room, flicks the light on, and pulls at her robe ties. I grip the windowsill harder.

"Who could possibly be knocking at this hour?" She mutters agitatedly. She sounds nervous. She peeps through the peephole, and with a gasp she flings the door open.

"Uncle Robert!" I shout, leaving my watch at the window and running into his arms. He smells like salt and peppermint.

I'm smiling like mad, but when I look up at his face, it's as pale as the scratchy nightgown grandmother gave me last winter. He's not smiling.

"Um, Celia, there's been an accident." He grabs mother's arm and pulls her aside. Now his hands are gesturing and she's nodding and his voice is low and serious. I knew I felt something.

"Rayanne, darling, go get your coat on for me. We're going on deck, and it's mighty chilly. Hurry now." Uncle Robert says, his voice soft and warm. He smiles, but he doesn't look happy, and I make off to my room. Quickly I tug my coat on and see the doll my papa bought for just last month. I bring it with me wherever I go. I can't wait to see him in America. I grab the doll and when I return to my uncle he holds out a white, hard, balloon thing to me.

"This is a lifejacket, Rayanne. You need to put it on to be safe when we go on deck, alright?" He slips it over my head and I feel all squished together. He pulls tightly at some strings and then turns to help mother with hers.

"Uncle Robert, what's going on? Why do I need to wear this thing? What does it do?" I shift inside of the lifejacket and pull my doll close to my chest.

"You see, it's to help you swim in the water. To keep you floating." He says no more and gives mother a look.

"But Uncle Robert, I'm not going swimming. I don't even know how. And the pool isn't open this late, is it?" He's not making sense. If he wants to teach me to swim, I'll be happy to tomorrow, when I can see the water.

"No, Rayanne, we're not going to the pool." Uncle Robert puts his hands on my shoulders and bends his knees down to look at me. "The boat is in trouble, sweetheart. You have to be obedient and follow me up the stairs and out on the deck, ok? Keep hold of your mother's hand and don't lose sight of me." My eyes grow wide and something turns inside my tummy. Uncle Robert squeezes my shoulders. "Everything's going to be just fine, you hear me? I'm going to get you both to a lifeboat and it'll take you far away from the ship so nothing can hurt you, ok? Keep your dolly close and follow me." He smiles and his cheeks get those little dimply things. When I grow up, I want to marry somebody with dimples.

Quickly he opens the door and I grab mother's hand and we follow Uncle Robert out into the hallway and up the stairs.

A lot of people have the lifejackets on. Mine doesn't feel so squishy anymore.

At the top we step onto the deck and the air hits me like when Polly Mitchell used to blow her fishy breath in my face just to make me mad. And then a big, fat, man pushes past us and I almost knock down a little baby girl next to me. Her mother looks at me strangely and I hang onto mother's hand even harder. Oh no, where is Uncle Robert?

Oh, there he is. And is that the lifeboat? It's very large and so many people are trying to get into it. It looks too full to me. Maybe we should wait for the next one.

I look up at mother and she's biting her fingernails. Now how come she always tells me not to and she can? I'd like to bite a few.

"Lower the boat!" A man next to Uncle Robert shouts. I suppose we **are** waiting for the next one.

"Robert!" Mother calls after him and yanks me across the deck to where he's standing. She starts to mumble something to him and her cheeks are very red. He's replying softly and they're talking too low for me to hear over the voices around me. I look about the deck for someone I might know. It's awfully cold up here.

Oh, look, there's Myla Delacey. She's so sweet. My ball had fallen over the walking deck yesterday and she had gotten it for me. Then she introduced me to another girl my age and we played 'kick the ball' for a while. But then mother dragged me away saying something about third class passengers.

She's looks really worried. Is she crying?

"Myla!" I shout. But she doesn't hear me. I jump a little. "Myla, over here!" She sees me now and is running up. She **is** crying.

"Myla, why are you crying?" She's wiping at her nose. "It's ok, Myla. Uncle Robert says we're getting on a lifeboat soon. Everything's going to be just fine."

**A/N: Hope you liked it! Leave a review and maybe I'll write more. wink jk XD**


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I own the plot of my new characters, nothing else.

'Why are you crying?' She says it as if I'm blubbering all over the deck, tripping over people and wiping snot on my scarf.

Well, I suppose I am. What a sight I must be.

"Your uncle is right, Rayanne." I force a smile and she turns away looking somewhat content. And her uncle is right. For the most part. For them.

There's that feeling again. That overpowering rush of nausea and suffocation. My face is so hot, and my throat seems to be closing up. The wind whips my hair onto my cheeks and my eyes begin to fill again. I pull my scarf tighter around me, it barely covering my shoulders. _Oh, where is he?_

"We're getting off the ship now. Are you coming Myla?" Rayanne asks me, those big, brown, eyes so naïve. I shake my head hard. I couldn't possibly without him. Her eyes get wider. "But you must come with us. Uncle Robert says-"

"I know what your uncle says, dear." My voice is softer than it was. "You get on this lifeboat and I'll catch another, ok?" I hear myself trembling. But Rayanne just nods and lets her mother pull her into the crowded boat. Her mother's eyes are now locked on the officer waving them down. He must be Uncle Robert. Poor Rayanne.

Suddenly, the boast shifts and I lose my footing. I slip backward and someone catches me. I look up. _Blythe!_

I spin around and lock my arms around his neck. Tears start streaming down my cheeks onto his black, tailored suit. But he doesn't care. I feel his grip tighten and I lose myself in this moment, if only for right now.

Then he pulls me from him and puts his hands on my shoulders and his worried, serious, face is staring into mine. I wish he would smile.

"Are you alright, love?" He whispers, his accent so familiar. If only we were both in Ireland right now, planning our wedding and knowing all was safe tonight. _'If only, if only the woodpecker sighed…'_

"Yes, I'm alright, but what took you so long? I was worried mad!" I bite my lip. _Stop blubbering!_

"I'm so sorry. I had to help the people in my hallway. They're all so daft. Putting on a lifejacket really isn't that difficult." He pauses, his eyes searching me. "Where's your lifejacket?" He seems frantic.

"Where's **your** lifejacket, hmm?" _Ninny! Where __**is **__my jacket?_

"I gave it away…don't avoid the question! We need to find you one right now!" He grabs my hand and pulls me down the deck, dodging crazed passengers.

Finally he gives up running and heads back to where we started.

Now, we're standing here waiting for the lifeboats to lower so we can get in the next set and his eyes are searching the crowd for a lost lifejacket. I wish he wouldn't worry so. We're together now, what does it matter?

Suddenly his eyebrows shoot up as if he's noticing something he hadn't seen before. I follow his gaze to the Robert fellow.

"Stay right here for a moment, love. I'll be right back." And he walks off to Robert.

Why did we have to get on this ship to America? So the town didn't think it fit for a poor farm girl to marry a prominent businessman of Ireland. They would have soon forgotten it. Blythe had begged me to come with him on this ship of dreams to journey to the new world where we could start our lives fresh, together.

I didn't want to come.

He had offered me a full suite of my very own in first class, but my pride would not allow me to accept his generosity. I told him I would travel with him to America, but I would not be smothered. I also refused to accompany him without a chaperone, for how would **that** look? But she disappeared just before I went to bed. Just before the ship…

The ship. It's shifting again. I try to reach for something to keep me steady, but it's moving too fast.

"Blythe!" I scream through the noise.

**A/N: I hope the story is clear and you're liking it! Please, please, please review... :)**


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I own the plot of my characters, nothing else.

"Are you sure you don't know where any might be?" I'm ringing my hands together as Robert shakes his head apologetically. I see the weariness in his eyes and realize I must seem sort of like a bother.

"I'm sorry, I'll leave you to your duties." I turn to walk away and realize the ship is shifting more than I'd like it to. I look up to see Myla's hand waving at me, her mouth open like she's shouting. I turn back to Robert.

"I need to get my fiancé on this lifeboat now."

"That's fine, Mr. Stevens, but bring her up quickly. We're filling up fast and we haven't much time." He looks at me, knowing that I know I'm not going with her.

I swallow hard and start making my way back to Myla.

"Blythe, the ship is moving too much! We need to get on the lifeboat now, forget the lifejacket!" She yells above the crowd around us.

"I know! Come on, Officer Carrell's got one ready!" I grab her hand and am pushing through the people around us.

_Why did I bring her on this ship? If she doesn't make it…_

A jerk breaks my thoughts open and I stumble into Robert. I spin around and pick Myla up by the waist, placing her roughly in the lifeboat. She gasps a little and then moves over on the bench, blocking a woman from sitting down next to her. She's looking up at me.

But I don't move. I look at Robert. He nods.

"Lower her down, men, we're full up!" A panic flashes across her face and her eyebrows knot together.

"Blythe! Wait, stop the boat, we're missing someone!" She stands up and reaches for me, almost falling out. A ball of emotion bubbles up inside of me and I don't know whether to cry or shout or jump. All I get out is a croak.

"Blythe!" She screams again, tears pouring out of her eyes. She's grasping for the rails on the ship, for the people's hands to pull her back on board. But they don't, and I'm thanking them with all my heart.

"I love you so much, Myla! I love you!" I hurl myself against the side and am hollering down to her, hollering into her heart, etching a memory in her mind. _Please just stay in the boat. _

"No! No!!" She tries to jump, but the same woman she wouldn't let sit next to her grabs her by the collar and forces her back onto the bench. And she stays. She's sitting there looking up at me, crying her heart out, biting her lips. And I can't bear it.

I turn around to Robert and I see a tear rolling down his cheek. _Where is his niece? I haven't seen her since this afternoon._

"Robert, I-" Suddenly the ship lurches again and we both go tumbling near the edge.

"Blythe we need to get off this wretched liner!" He bellows into the air.

We're trying to stand but the ship is bending inward. _We need to get to higher ground._

"Let's move upward!" I shout to Robert. He follows me to the left and we're climbing up the walkway, reaching for the top. We duck as people come hurtling toward us, sliding down the deck, screaming into the night.

Someone knocks me over and I go slipping down, but Robert grabs my hand and I reach up for a rail next to me. I'm pulling myself up now. Pulling and reaching and crawling for my life, Robert up ahead of me.

I feel myself slipping. I'm slipping. The deck is getting straighter and we're rising higher and who just fell past me? My eyes start to blur and I hear Robert yelling back at me urging me upward.

"…ship…going down…hang on…"

_What?_

And now we're falling…hurtling toward the sea.

**A/N: Eek, isn't it suspenseful?! Is someone gonna die? Oh no! Review and maybe I'll write more! ;)**


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I own the plot of my characters, nothing else.

We're falling so fast. The wind is whipping me backward and I'm hanging onto the railing with a death grip.

_**Boom!**_ We hit the ocean flat. Now all we have left to do is sink.

I look around and we seem to be stable. _Maybe if we hurry somehow we can-_

Oh no, we're tipping again. I look to Blythe and his eyes are registering the same scene as mine.

"Come on Blythe, we've got to get higher!" _How many times have I said that? _I grab onto anything I can reach for, anything that will get me where I need to be. I look back to make sure Blythe is close behind, but all I comprehend is the ocean growing farther and farther away.

"Robert, keep moving!" He shouts at me. I shake myself and keep crawling. The top is so close, just reach for it…

We hit the white railing of the stern and my hand lunges out for it. But I slip. I fall. My head cracks up against something, yet somehow I'm moving higher. _Blythe? _

"Come on, man!" He shouts. "We're so close. Get up quick!" He's pulling me toward him and I reach out again for the railing. But we've lost precious time and suddenly the boat is straight upright. Like a stick in the mud, a fencepost in the ground, a knife in a slab of butter.

I latch my hands onto the railing next to Blythe and he's looking at me with the rawest fear in his face I've ever seen in a man. We're hanging from the railing like pajamas on a clothesline and my hands are getting sweating. If only we could slip over the other side of the rail…

Too late. The back half of the Titanic has broke through the surface of the sea and now we're slowly sinking into it. Down, down, down. We're moving at a sickening speed - too slow, too fast, not at all how it should be.

And the fear, the incomprehensible fear that I felt when I heard those three horrible words not long before, strikes at my insides, suffocates every breath inside of me, is numbing me to my very core. I try to swallow- I can't move my tongue. I try to scream - my voice is stuck in my throat. And all the while my hands are slipping and my eyes are tearing and Blythe is trying to pull himself away from our impending doom. But he can't.

None of us can. The sea is upon us - our deaths are waiting.

I look back one more time. There it is. The water that I'll never come up from. I see Rayanne and Celia in my mind. I see my brother in-law. My mother, my father. The captain. Blythe. His fiance and her tears. The world seems to go silent around me and now all I can focus on is my hands slowly letting go.

And without a sound the water is slipping up around me, pulling me under, pushing me down, crushing my body. I thrash around, arms flailing and fighting. My legs kick menacingly, as if to propel me to the surface. But I get nowhere.

And then I feel the cold. The most sickening, breath stealing, cold I've ever felt in my life. Like a million pins digging into my flesh and I'm screaming out. My mouth is filling up with water and my officer's coat is dragging me down. I open my eyes wide and they sting like soap. _I can't win. I'm going to die._

And then in the midst of all the terror, the pain, the bone chilling ocean, the memories playing in my mind, and the undeniable truth that death is lunging for me, I reach a firm conclusion.

I blindly make for the surface. _Where __**is**__ the surface?_

I hit air and suck in a huge lungful. _There it is._

I search around me, feeling a sudden calm. But when I see the people and the bodies and the splashing water all about, fear comes back. With a vengeance.

"Blythe!" I scream. _Where is that man?!_ I'm struggling beneath my jacket. It's too heavy and I can barely keep my head above water. Behind me I feel hands pawing at me, gurgles asking me to help them. But I can't. I can barely help myself.

"Blythe!" I bellow again. Anything could have happened to him. Anything at all.

I struggle to tear out of my coat, gobbling a bucket of seawater. I spit and cough and sputter, using my last burst energy to rip my jacket off, and swim towards a floating table.

"Blythe! Blythe, man where are you?!" I'm kicking towards those people who need my help.

But he's not there. Not anywhere.

**A/N: Whoop! Another chappie. I hope you're enjoyed it and please, tell me how I'm doing. I would love to know! :)**


	6. Chapter 6

"Mommy what's happening to the ship?" I'm shaking in my seat and I can't stop myself. I'm more scared than I can ever remember myself being in all my life. The big, beautiful, ship we were on only a little bit ago with Uncle Robert is breaking apart and throwing people off of it. It's making such loud noises and suddenly all the lights have gone out.

The darkness makes it so much colder.

"Mommy why have all the lights shut off? Can't someone keep them on? It's very, very, dark out here." I'm afraid of the dark.

"I'm sure they'll return soon enough, darling." I don't think she really knows if they will.

"Why are people being so loud and screaming? I can't stand to hear them." I smush my head into her side and hold my dolly closer than before. Closing my eyes doesn't make the dark so bad. Maybe it will make the screaming stop.

It doesn't.

I stay there for a moment with my head beneath her arm and think about Uncle Robert. When he was lowering our lifeboat down, his face looked very sad. But he said everything was going to be fine. His face didn't seem like he thought everything was fine. I wish he were with us now. I wonder if he's still on the ship.

It wouldn't throw **him** off, would it?

"Mommy, is Uncle Robert on a lifeboat like us?"

She doesn't answer. I bring my head out of her side and look up at her. She's very quiet and her face is like my doll's. Except it isn't smiling.

"Mommy…?" She doesn't look at me, but her hand slips beneath mine and squeezes it real hard. It's awfully cold.

I look around at the other people on our lifeboat and wish for it to have a face I know. But it doesn't and suddenly I feel even sadder.

The black in front of me is so thick. I squint to see if I can make out anything in the water ahead, but I can't see a thing.

I can feel the ocean swishing at the sides of our boat and the rocking of it makes my stomach upset. Whenever father used to take me out sailing I never, ever, not once, got sea-sick. I hope I don't now.

I wrap my arms around my tummy and my doll falls to the floor. My mother picks it up, but doesn't give it back. She holds it close to her chest and I don't try and take it back. Maybe it will make her feel better.

The boat keeps rocking, the water keeps licking at it, and the dark stays so, so, black. Far away where the ship is, I hear people yelling at the top of their lungs. If I were to yell, I don't think I could ever be that loud.

The screams hurt my chest. I want to cry.

But I don't.

I just wretch over the side.


	7. Chapter 7

This wooden bench is so cold beneath my dress. _What a silly thought. _

My hands are shaking so violently I don't know whether to sit on them or let the shake completely overtake me. Really, though, it doesn't matter in the slightest. None of it does as long as I'm sitting in this lifeboat without Blythe.

All I see is him. Like a broken picture show, the scene plays out again and again. I reached for him. I clawed at the air around me, at the people to wrench me from this little boat and pull me to man I love.

But they didn't. And here I am.

I struggle to see in this blackness. I'm squinting into the night and sifting through the screams to hear his voice. But my ears are empty.

_You headstrong man. Must you play the hero always? Why weren't you a coward this once, just this once, for me, my love? _If he had been, he would be sitting on this frozen wooden bench wrapping his arms around me instead of this scarf, his heart beating with mine, just as it should be.

Tears sting at my eyes. They seem to have found a permanent home there, as I cannot seem to gather my wits about me. And though the woman next to me has offered to share her coat, I will not be warm if my love is not.

Yes, I will be that stubborn.

Now I'm waiting, for what I'm unsure. I look behind me and see women in furs and wide brimmed hats staring into their hands or out to the stars. Their eyes seem to be glazed over and not one will look back at me. _Can this be it? This cannot be all we will do._

The officers in control of the lifeboats warned us that if we attempted to return to the sinking ship to save anyone, they would overthrow us in a panicked frenzy. Logically, this is true, but my battered heart is begging me to pitch myself into the drink if only to save my love. I will not sit idle.

Within my chest I feel the eruption of emotion. I stand up swiftly, nearly toppling over from the movement, and look about me. The ladies are staring up at me, not sure whether I will jump or pull a pistol.

"I assure you I am quite sane," I say aloud. I raise my voice and address the boat captains as well. "Please, I beg of you to consider going back. It's been far too long and if we are to sit here dilly dallying about, our opportunity to save our loved ones will soon be lost."

They stare and say nothing. I must have the look of a fool about me, but I cannot bare this ignorant attitude. "Don't you understand?" I address the women pointedly. "Your men are crying out to you from the sea and are you to just sit here, hoping they will swim back to you alive?" Still no responses. Not a one. I shift a bit in my stance of defiance and wonder if the cold has really reached my mind.

I slowly sit, burning from the inside. _Daft fools…_

The screams are dying down, the whisper of death is what makes them mute, I know it. Every cry that ceases, pierces me so, for I know it means one less chance it will be my love that calls.

Each minute lost, is a moment lost for him. A minute too long could be too late…and I cannot risk it. I start to stand up again when I hear to my left a loud booming voice.

"Hullo!" An officer with a welsh accent is standing up in his lifeboat, waving his hands to all the other boats. "Come together now! Move closer!" He commands. The boats begin to herd together and all attention is now on this man.

"We must go back!" He bellows.

My ears perk.

"We are going to move my passengers amongst the lot of you. You two to vessel 12." He points to a woman with gray-brown hair and a young boy beneath her arm. "You three to vessel 14." He continues distributing his passengers into the different lifeboats. It takes a bit of time, but now his boat is empty.

"Now," summons the welsh officer. "Who would so accompany me back to search for living souls?" His eyes roam the lifeboats, his gaze a steady glare if ever I saw one. "Will anyone go back with me?"

That simple question is all I need. I shoot up, tall and ready. He nods at me, and as I crawl into his boat, number fourteen, others start to follow.

_My darling, I'm coming. Wait for me. _


	8. Chapter 8

We're walking down a dusty pathway in the side of the mountain. To my right is a cobblestone wall, just to my hip, and balancing herself upon it is none other then my lovely. We're holding hands, and she's laughing like a schoolgirl who's just heard the funniest joke.

"Look!" She's pointing out to the sea, the wind whipping her auburn hair. "Do you think it's a dolphin, Blythe?"

I search the water, the waves hitting the jagged rocks, and lick my lips from the salty mist. This is my day.

"Love," my hand moves to her waist and I slowly pull her off the wall, her dress snagging on a bit of stone. "I do believe you're seeing things."

She looks up at me, her green eyes brighter than I've seen them yet, and smiles knowingly. "Only you."

And though she's giggling proudly at her play on my words, it's enough to do me in. My heart skips in the anticipation of what I'm about to do.

I take her hands in mine. I lower down on one knee. I try not to vomit.

"Myla," I begin. But I stop, the look on her face frozen in surprise. _Will she say yes? _I shift my pose a bit.

"Myla," I start again. And as the words are spilling from my mouth I can't seem to stop them. I can't seem to have enough manly pride to hold them in, for she is everything that speaks to my very heart.

And it's answering with one final question.

"My darling, will you be mine for always?"

Silence.

I wasn't expecting silence.

But before my knee gives out I'm being smothered with yeses, a sweet kiss and now I am holding her in a hug. Her hugs have become my home.

This is exactly what I wanted.

Now suddenly the sky is dark as night and a chill courses through my blood. I feel so wet. _Why do I feel wet? Where is Myla? _

"Blythe!" I hear my name faintly. "Blythe!" _Why is it muffled? What's going on?_

Scarcely, I feel myself being lifted, hoisted into the air. I squirm a bit, but I can't seem to feel my body. Numb.

I'm getting warmer, slowly feeling my fingers. My arms. My torso. But not my legs. I feel nothing below my waist.

I forget that thought as I open my eyes. Everything is a blur, but I make out lights in the…_is that the sky? _I blink a few times and everything is getting clearer. I'm making out faces around me.

"Myla?" I throw her name into the air, unsure of what it will get me.

And here she is, with kisses and a great hug. But I can only remember bits of her, and am still foggy of my whereabouts. She's crying on my chest, but I'm only asking why.

She's looking up at me now, a fear in her eyes I've never seen before…yet it's so familiar. The same fear I saw on the…Titanic.

And like a rush of wind, it comes back.

All the horrid visions of a nightmare past flash before me and I grab the edge of my seat to hold me down. Without a thought, I'm clutching my love to me, breathing in her lavender scent, remembering her for everything she is. My face is in her hair and I feel a swelling in my chest, an eruption of emotion, and one lone tear.

I am alive. The one I love is in my arms. This moment is all I need.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: I have FINALLY finished this story...hope you all enjoy :)**

"He must be alive…check that list again!" A broken sentence. One that envelops all the pain and agony of knowing the one you care for is gone, but is so desperate in holding onto that last strand of strangled hope.

"I'm sorry…" Is all the officers would say with painted faces of strength. It was said again and again, until 'I'm sorry' seemed only a line to keep the broken hearted at bay. People stumbled along the _Carpathia_'s deck, searching for what they hoped would appear; what never would surface.

Most sat with placid faces, huddled in blankets, clutching cups of coffee and tea, their eyes focused on nothing in particular. Some stood by the rails staring out to the horizon, the line that fenced them in on all sides. In the growing dawn light, the ocean looked to them as a graveyard set in glass.

In the dining room, the injured sat. Cuts and scrapes, broken bones and splintered hearts.

"Myla, dear, would you mind pulling me up a bit?" Blythe asked his fiancé timidly. She swiftly made her way over to his chair, tugging at his shoulders and tucking the wool blanket beneath his rigid legs. She rested a hand on his cheek for just a moment, longing his eyes to see all she felt inside. The doctor had said they would see within the hour if Blythe would walk again. It was unlikely, he said. Myla shuddered at the thought, and yet sighed in relief knowing that the only thing she wished for, was everything she got. She couldn't ask for more than him being next to her.

Across the way a little girl of nine, clung to her mother's dress, trying to hide the trembles racking her body. Her uncle was nowhere to be found, and her mother had refused to let go of her doll.

"Mommy?" She looked up with tearful eyes. Celia looked down at her daughter, and clutched her and the doll closer. She moved them over to a chair to sit and no sooner had she put Rayanne in her lap, then the sobs started to come. They rocked each other in a perfect picture of mourning.

But their tears were cut short as a commotion broke out on deck.

"Look! There!" Voices shouted out over the rails of the ship. Rayanne jumped up from her mother and ran to their calls. She threw herself against the side, peering intently into the sea. Not far off from the side was what looked to be a table...with a body atop it! The feet and fingertips were the only things touching the ocean's surface, the rest of the man's body stiffly laid out on the table's top.

A light broke out in Rayanne's mind. Could it be her dear Uncle Robert?

"Quick men, let's get him aboard!" Another voice called out. A lifeboat was let down into the water and the men pulled the lone figure aboard. People huddled around the straggler, blocking Rayanne's view from him. She struggled to get a glimpse of who it could be, each minute causing her tiny heart more anxiety.

As she tried to push her way through a pair of particularly stocky legs, someone behind her hoisted her up high on their shoulders for her to see. She looked down to find Myla, her green eyes crinkling into a smile. Rayanne returned the smile in full, before lifting her neck up to spot who was there on the ground. It was not her dear Uncle Robert.

"Thank you Myla," she muttered as she was lifted down. Myla bent down to Rayanne's level, eye to eye. She pulled her into a great hug without words. Rayanne stood there a minute soaking in what it all meant. Her young heart wrapped itself around reality. Her uncle was dead.

And with that wretched thought, she took off in a broken sprint. Myla turned around on her heels, knees still bent. Her bottom lip quivered ever so slightly as she rose to return to the dining room. Her eyes scanned the room as she entered. What a pathetic group of people. Her heart throbbed at the sight. She looked over to Blythe who was fidgeting with his blanket. _Oh love_, she sighed inwardly. Tears began to well up in her eyes, and she almost felt as if all the strength would leave her, until he turned to look at her, his face so guilty. So guilty for something he couldn't help. No, she wouldn't cause him to feel such regret. She sucked in her breath and stood a little straighter, determined to be strong for the man she loved.

As Myla walked over to Blythe, voices were getting louder to her left. She ignored it at first as she adjusted his legs, until she realized that the voices began to take on a physical aspect. The argument broke out into a full blown fight. The two men swung and grappled, knocking over a table and shattering dinnerware. Officers moved in to stop the brawl, but the passengers were adamant and their strength overcame them. Before Myla could make sense of it all, they were wrestling straight toward her. She turned to see one man swing and as she fell she felt strong hands catch beneath her back. Her eyes opened to find Blythe staring into them, a look of confusion and triumph on his features. Myla herself was sorely confused as she was brought up, his arms wrapped around her.

"Blythe you're standing!" She cried out both ecstatic and in disbelief. Blythe looked down to his feet as if they were some foreign thing. He looked back up to her, and without a thought, pulled her into him and twirled her around. She laughed in delight and relief as the room spun around her. Perfection shone off of them as they twirled and danced and laughed together. All they had wanted, is what they got. Truly.

Meanwhile, in a dark little corner in some hidden place of the ship, Rayanne sat with her silent tears. This was never supposed to happen. It was something she couldn't get her mind to acknowledge. It wasn't possible that her uncle could be dead. _It just isn't_, she thought.

Ever since she could remember he had been there, with his peppermint smell and gifts of chocolate candies. She remembered his scruffy face when he wouldn't shave for a day and how when he hugged her she would hide her face in his chest so as not to touch it, giggling all the while. She remembered how he would tell her stories of his adventures sailing the seas with storms, monsters and shipwrecks. And pirates of course, as any good tale should have. And then she would say, "No Uncle Robert, those things don't really happen, you silly button."

"No they don't, I suppose," he would say. "But what if they did?" And she never really knew if he was telling the truth or if they were only pretend. Now she would never know.

A fresh set of tears rolled down her rosy cheeks, and she brushed them away in frustration. She wouldn't cry. She was not a baby. And as far as she was concerned she was no longer a little nine year old girl. With that, Rayanne stood to return to her mother.

As she walked, her braids bobbed from side to side, the appearance of girlishness from the back, but the look of lost childhood on her face. Before she reached the dining room doors, she felt a tap on her shoulder. Thinking it was her mother avid with worry, she began to apologize as she turned around.

But before she could finish her sentence, she choked back the words and stood frozen on the deck.

"What? No hug for your Uncle Robert?" The above voice questioned her.

Her eyes widened with astonishment, brown and round, the lashes still wet from her recent tears.

Robert did not wait for a reply. Instead he scooped her up in his arms, strong and warm. He hugged her until he thought he might have crushed his poor little niece. But she didn't want to let go of him. He laughed to himself as her little arms and hands wrapped tight around his neck, her face wet with crying and giggles all the same.

Robert carried her back to the dining room, where he spotted his dear sister sitting still as death near the windowsill. He slowly walked over and sat down next to her, gaining the same greeting once more.

As he held his sister and niece in his arms, he couldn't help but shed his own tears. In his mind he saw the early morning's happenings replay yet again. He saw the table top, the man drowning without a life vest next to him. He remembered ripping off his own life vest and securing it around the man, dragging him to the table and pushing him on top. He saw the water lapping itself over his own head, the cold overwhelming. The last thing he saw in his mind was the dead woman's body floating next to him and the guilt leaving him as he took her life vest for his own, foggily searching for a door or piece of wood. He found it...and then it all went black.

He had woken up in lifeboat number twelve, the last to reach the _Carpathia._ The people had murmured around him, saying he wouldn't make it, his body was too cold, it had been too long. But he fought against their doubt in his blurry stupor. He found his way out of the dark and into the dawn. And now here he sat, satisfied and relieved. Haunted, but alive, with the ones he strived so hard to save, holding him close.

A little while later, after the excitement had died down, and the _Carpathia_ was making its way for New York's shore, Robert found Blythe and Myla. The five of them sat around exchanging stories and fears. Robert felt indebted to Blythe, as he did in turn. Myla kept her arms locked tightly in Blythe's own and Rayanne never left Robert's lap, all the while holding her mother's hand.

They were a little more than broken, but soon all would be well. And far into the future, they would only be satisfied that they had lived to tell the tale.

The ship of dreams had made her mark on them. It was enough.


End file.
